[link|http://news.com.com/2100-1040-980600.html?tag=lh|Complaints mount from TurboTax customers ]
"...Intuit announced last year that it would limit unlicensed distribution of TurboTax by incorporating technology that links each copy of the program to a particular PC. Because of SafeCast, customers can only print and electronically file returns from the PC the software was activated on.
The activation code that unlocks TurboTax is stored on the hard drive and kept hidden from the customer. Contrary to previous claims by Intuit, that means anyone buying a new PC or replacing a hard drive needs to call Intuit support to reactivate the product, a process some have complained is cumbersome and unwarranted.
"If you uninstall, and then install on a different computer, you either have to beg for a new activation code or buy a new license," Ed, a Texas tech support worker who declined to give his full name, said in an e-mail interview. "Life is way too short for this kind of nonsense...to use a $30 piece of software."
Is this the future of software?